A final portrait of Queen Elizabeth II appears on many of the front pages. The photograph, taken in May, shows her smiling, dressed in pale blue, wearing her characteristic pearls. It’s captioned “Happy and Glorious” in the Daily Mirror, in the Daily Express: “Farewell our Glorious Queen”, The Daily Telegraph: “A life of selfless service.” The Sun frames the image in black, with the headline “God Bless”.
Biggest funeral
The i looks ahead to what it says will be the “biggest state funeral in history” that’ll be watched by billions around the world. The Daily Mail estimates that four billion – or half the planet’s population – will see it. It picks up the Queen’s global recognition in its front page headline “the world prepares to join our last farewell”.
The Financial Times puts forward the view that no-one can emulate the Queen’s levels of soft power. It suggests that a post-imperial and post-Brexit UK will need to seek and nurture other sources.
The Guardian notes that the Queen’s great grandchildren, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, will walk behind her coffin. The Telegraph suggests they’ll be the youngest children to take a central role in such an occasion. A source tells the Mail that their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, thought “long and hard” about whether the nine and seven-year-olds should attend.
The Daily Star speaks on its front page of the “Kingdom United” as millions joined a minute of silence last night in memory of the Queen. While the Sun pays tribute to what it describes as the more than 400,000 souls who devotedly braved the wait to see her coffin.
In other news, there’s more speculation about the budget – with the Sun suggesting Liz Truss plans to cut the basic rate of income tax to 19p in the pound. The Times reports on economic analysis that suggests the aim to lower national insurance contributions will leave the poorest three million households only 63p better off each month.
The Express says the UK is bracing for a rise in flu cases after a spike in Australia. And there’s a warning in the Star that the price of milk could soon exceed that of petrol per litre.
Finally the Mail says there’s been a run on black hats in London ahead of the funeral. The paper suggests that even Princess Beatrice was affected by the shortage, being turned away empty handed from a department store in Bond Street.
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Source: BBC
